Kremlin admits TV stations showed secret nuclear torpedo plan

Moscow: The Kremlin admitted on Wednesday that Russian television had accidentally shown secret plans detailing a nuclear torpedo system in development.

Two Kremlin-controlled channels, NTV and Channel One, showed a military official looking at a confidential document containing drawings and details of a weapons system called Status-6, designed by Rubin, a nuclear submarine construction company based in Saint Petersburg.

The nuclear torpedoes, to be fired by submarines, would create "zones of extensive radioactive contamination making them unsuitable for military or economic activity for a long period," says the document, which is clearly visible in the footage for several seconds.

The images were filmed during a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with military officials in the Black Sea city of Sochi on Monday.

The footage aired on Tuesday and was later deleted by the channels, but several websites still published screenshots from it.